NOVEL NEXT Peter Put to the Test
Chapter 1. Peter Put To the Test.
Author note: These events take place immediately after the end of Old Man’s Tale.
Absolute chaos. That was the only thing that Peter could think of to describe their situation. One moment they had been cruising along the Mexican coast nearing Cozumel. Next instant they had been in complete blackness, thunder and then blinding light. When he could stand again his massive ship was not where it was supposed to have been. As insane as it sounded in his mind, they were now somewhere else. In a large harbour overlooking a small rustic village, a few hundred yards off shore. To make matters worse the power had failed, total blackout over the ship. No steering, no elevators, nothing. Not even the safety lights worked and they were brand new and fool proof. The bridge crew, when they were able to, stood shakily and lined the windows. Peter opened the side door and stepped outside. The weather was much cooler than Mexico in summer, felt more like early autumn. A few of the officers had joined him on the balcony.
“Peter, I mean Captain, what’s happened.”, asked the first officer Paul Berg. A good friend for many years, they had served together on many ships on the Festival line. “I have no idea, but we’re still floating. Send a runner to engineering and find out what’s happening, no never mind that. I will go down myself, I hate waiting.”, replied Peter. Aye aye was the response and Peter started the long trek down. As he made his way to the crew stairs he noticed the emergency lights were beginning to flicker and finally come on. This would make things much easier to travel down the gargantuan ship than just using his phone light. It was going to be a long trip.
The ship and operational crew are quite separate from the resort staff. Cruise ships are really two intertwined things in one. A floating resort built on the hull of a massive ship. Peter was in overall command of the vessel but didn’t have too much to do with the resort part. Show up for dinners and special events, that was about it. Guiding the ship, in an economical way, was a very time consuming job. Avoiding bad weather, staying in proscribed shipping lanes, all were part of it. Keeping to a schedule, fuel consumption were what kept him on the bridge for hours. All this ran through his mind as he continued his way down. He could hear panicked calls for help, children crying. Luckily on this trial trip the passengers consisted of investors, company shareholders and their families. No general passengers. With a full crew of staff on board they were up to the task of dealing with this emergency. But he did have a odd feeling, just an foreboding at the back of his mind. It was silly because he had been sailing and on the water since he was born, the feeling persisted though. He wasn’t supposed to be here and he should leave as soon as possible, just jump off the ship, you’ll be fine. He shook his head, where did that thought come from? It would be suicidal to jump from this ship, the drop alone would probably be fatal. He continued down.
Thirty minutes after leaving the bridge he finally reached the engineering offices. Hoping to find George, the chief engineer, but no luck. Following shouting voices he came upon a stark scene. There was daylight coming from opened loading bays, apparently manually cranked open. The fresh air was wonderful but the mob fighting to get out was not. He could hear Georges voice bellowing out over the crowd “Get back, get back ye daft buggers. You can’t jump down, the ships safe, nothings coming to get you.”. The crowd of sailors, about fifty or so, were surging back and forth as George and a couple of his senior staff tried to prevent a mass exodus over the side.
The engineering crew were mostly young and made up of many different ethnicities. Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and at this moment everyone was shouting in their native language. Bedlam. George noticed that Peter was here and came over immediately. “Captain, what in the world happened, it went black down here, nothing worked, then the emergency light started working, but nothing else.”, he was waving his arms in agitation, then pointed out the huge hatch. “And where are we, that’s not Mexico, and why do I feel like I have to leave the ship?” he asked. He turned his head quickly to look at Peter “It was an EMP, wasn’t it. Who nuked us captain….was it them?”. Peter had no clue what George was talking about, whatever was going on was effecting him badly. He tried to calm things down “Please calm yourselves, no one attacked us, I’m not sure what happened but the ship is safe.”.
It didn’t work, the few people trying to prevent jumpers had started edging toward the edge as well. Panic was setting in and there was nothing he could do about it. This was going to end badly, he couldn’t imagine the panic happening on the passenger decks. I might as well end it now, he thought, the water is the way out. I’ll let it take me and I can rest. He began walking to the open hatch, along with his crew.
Through the hatch came a piercing screech, it woke him out of his fugue state. Shaking the cobwebs he heard the screech again, it seemed to be a tune of some kind. Well that can’t be right, I am really losing my mind. The sound was nearly a constant, and yes it was a tune, the unicorn song. Standing at the edge, he saw a strange but welcome sight. An odd wooden boat, a steamship it looked. About 25 metres in length and broad beamed. It was too far to read the name but it was closing fast, and for some reason he was feeling better. The urge to jump had passed, the other crew were shaking their heads as if waking up. “Captain,” it was George, “what happened, I was about to…”. He shuddered.
“Me too George, I have no idea what’s going on but that steam ship saved us I think.” Peter replied. The engineer looked out, the boat was very close now, circling the liner slowly. George had the idea of lowering a ladder to the water and making contact with whoever it was, a few metres down but there were contingencies for this. A massive power loss that is. All doors unlocked, with a few exceptions, to prevent being locked in a cabin. All food area were unlocked as well to give easy access to the huge supply of MRE’s they were obliged to carry. Nearby lockers held both rope and aluminum ladders, life jackets, flotation suits, every possible safety equipment imaginable.
It was the work of a few minutes to ready a ladder and a couple of crew in safety gear. Peter was in a flotation suit, helmet and safety rope as he went down the ladder. Concentrating on making it down safely, he didn’t notice that the steamboat had come quite close, in fact under him. He was shocked as two strong hands lifted him off the ladder and set him neatly on the wooden deck. “Welcome aboard the Rose”, said a deep voice.
His knees went weak and he half fell to the deck, supporting himself with one hand. He did, however, feel more alive again, less inclined to be jumping in the water. Another set of hands were on his shoulders as he stood, smaller hands but seemingly just as strong, a bit unnaturally so. Peter managed to get his wits about him and took in his surroundings. Two people were standing near. The first a young girl, about 18, dressed in what you might think a pirate would. A dark brown dress low in the back, nearly brushing the ground, but cut high in front, long leather boots, high gloves above the elbow, quite a striking figure. “Hello,” she said “I’m Naomi O’Malley, second mate.”. A wooden chair was near when he had fallen and she gestured for him to sit. “My crew..there’s a problem with the ship, god knows how the passengers are faring, what’s going on?”, he asked plaintively.
The deep voice answered him, from behind where he was sitting. “Your crew and passengers will be fine as long as we’re close, I don’t think electricity works very well here, and the answer to your last question is going to blow your mind.”. Peter stood and turned to see a tall person standing as close to his ship as possible, only a metre away from the port side of whatever he was on now. A man of about thirty five, well over six feet, bald except for a ferocious moustache. Wearing what looked like cargo shorts and flip-flops, yellow collared short sleeve shirt, topped off with a wide yellow hat. He had a grip on a loading ladder fixed to the side of the Melody and seemed to be holding his boat in place. The man called out “Let her drift Min, I’ll tie off here in a bit, no undertow here.” A response was heard from the structure on the bow of this boat “Aye aye dad, throttle off.” In a squeaky voice. “Who are you people?” Peter asked. “I’m Will Harris, captain of the heartboat Rose, the only boat on the lake.” the man, Will, replied.
Several of those terms didn’t mean much to Peter, except one…the name Will. “Um, I think a man named Eli wants to be remembered to you.”. Will laughed, a happy booming laugh “Eli huh, bald smaller man, can’t tell his age?”. Peter nodded “That’s him, you know him?”. “Met him once, quite a character.”Will said, “and as to who we are, you met Naomi right, the only one left is Minnie the first mate, but’s she’s a bit busy in the wheelhouse.”. “Am not, someone told me he was gonna tie us off, but hasn’t done that yet have you, no you haven’t, probably drinking tea with the new guy from the monster boat, showing off holding on huh, I’ll tie us off .”. The owner of the voice was quite a sight, thought Peter. About four feet tall, covered with short but very shiny fur, long ears, a round face with a slight muzzle wide open in a happy smile, sparkling brown eyes. Dressed in yellow bib overalls, ending at the knee, black boots, tool belt and a yellow sou’wester hat. “Hi guy, I’m first mate Minnie, that’s a big boat you have.”she said in her high pitched voice. All he could do was nod. She smirked at him and turned to the captain, showing that yes, she had a tail.
Peter was overwhelmed but he hadn’t become captain of the largest ship in the world by being no good in a crisis. He rallied fast and began firing questions off. Where they were, what had happened aboard, who had done this and so on. He also called up to his crew that were still looking over from the hatch a few meters above that he was safe and so were they.. “It might be better if you gathered your crew and passengers to the side we’re on, the effect will be mostly gone if they’re close to us.” Will advised. Peter laid out orders to start that happening. “What did you mean about electricity not working here, and where is here anyway.” he asked. Will thought for a moment “When I think of this place, compared to where we came from, I just call it Lakeworld. It seems to fit.”. Peter had to ask “So we’re not on, I can’t believe I have to say it, not on earth anymore?”. “Yes and no, this is the same planet. Same moon and seasons, climate seems to be in line with the old world, gravity too. But there are differences.” Will answered.
They were interrupted by shouts from above. Hundreds of people were lining the rail and balconies above their heads, crew and passengers together. At the open hatch Peter was glad to see the resort manager Elisabeth. A very efficient, no nonsense person who was still approachable by her staff of thousands and passengers. He was confident that she could handle any issue while he handled the ship. “Can you take people ashore captain?”, he asked “with no power this vessel will become uninhabitable in a short time.”. “ We could take…maybe a hundred at a time, but there’s a problem. If we leave, the lake will overcome you very quickly, that will not end well.”, Will said. Minnie piped up “Naomi and me could stay and you drive them to Newton.”. Will shook his head “No way are we separating, that ship came here fast, and could leave just as fast. I’m not going to risk losing either of you.”.
Peter had a thought, “Could you tow lifeboats? Our boats hold 370 people and we would only need to drop 4. That can be done mechanically, without power.”. “I don’t see why not, we pull multi ton barges of coal regularly.”. The plan was laid out quickly, they would tow four fully loaded boats to shore, with any extras on the Rose. Peter climbed back up the ladder to relay the news to abandon ship. This was met with disbelief and some hostility, but everyone remembered the feeling from before. Despair and the knowledge that life was not worth continuing, that the deep water would solve all problems.
Passengers had been herded on the lifeboat deck and were being loaded quickly. Crew were taking turns searching the massive ship for stragglers but then returning to the starboard side, above the waiting heartboat. This refreshed them temporarily and they could return to work for a while before doing it again. Using just the midship starboard boats helped the passengers . These were dropping slowly to the fore and aft of the Rose. Minnie was taking care of the tow lines with Naomi’s help. Their increased strength made handling the tow cables an easy task. The watching sailors and passengers couldn’t believe what they were seeing. The two small people lifting very heavy cables like they were string, tying and twisting easily until the bobbing boats were secure and close. The hatches were opened on the lifeboats and people were invigorated by the freshest air they had ever breathed.
Several crew members were assembling supplies, food and water, temporary housing, even folding portable bathrooms. This ship had it all. Every convenience, every luxury item, every piece of safety equipment ever made. A crane had been setup at the hatch over the Rose and hundreds of pounds of gear were being lowered. Peter couldn’t believe it when Will unhooked the gear net and casually set it to one side, Minnie took the next with Naomi’s help. Will saw him looking and shrugged “We’ve improved a bit since we got here.”. Peter nodded “We’ll have to speak more of this later, I have to focus on getting everyone to safety first, but we have to talk.”.
With full lifeboats in tow, several dozen people huddled on deck, the Rose headed slowly toward the Newton dock. There were several hundred people clustered at the shore, it looked the entire population of Newton. Not really surprising considering the events of the past few hours. Will could see the councillors carriages at the far end, and as they closed some familiar faces were waiting. The coal barges were still tied off on either side but the was still room to dock the lifeboats. As they closed on the land people on deck were coming back to their usual selves. The horrible miasma the lake caused had passed. This of course meant that the arguing started, the questioning, the demands. Shouts of “where are we”, “I’m calling my lawyer”, “Take me back to my cabin”, and so on. Will handled this by totally ignoring the questions and the people. Minnie was at the helm and Naomi was blocking access. Peter and his officers were trying to keep control but the situation was going down hill.
After a few tense minutes they bumped up against the dock. Sailors jumped tie them and started off loading the irate scared passengers. Grouped up, they were escorted down the quay by Naomi, she hurried back after as the lifeboats had been pulled to the quay, tied off and passengers were being led off. Again grouped up and moved down to the town. Peter had been in the first lot and was talking to the council. Trying to put them rest about the huge amount of new people. “We just need a space to set up our people for the duration.” Peter asked. “Of course.”, replied Samantha “There’s a large meadow, just to the north. Your all welcome to use that.”. “Why not a hotel, can’t you comp us until we’re rescued.” shouted a man, echoed by hundreds of others, demanding help, whatever they could get.
“I don’t know what a hotel is, and there are so many of you, more than our whole town.” shouted Dave. Things were getting out of control again. Violence was nearly unknown in this world and Will could see how this was affecting the peaceful people of Newton. He pulled Peter aside “Get this under control, let your officers take groups to that meadow. Start now.”, he said urgently. Peter nodded, still partially in shock himself. He called out “Attention please, attention.”, nobody listened. He was still wearing his flotation suit so he used the attached air horn. That got people looking at him.
“Officers, crew, passengers. We are going to head out of town to the area these people have kindly let us use,” he shouted. He was instantly interrupted again with shouts “I don’t have to listen to you”, “I demand to go back to the ship”, more calls about lawyers and lawsuits, where the rescue helicopters are, why don’t the phones work and on and on. The ships officers clustered near to Peter as he gave out orders. The first officer was to take 200 people, second officer the same, on down the line. Other crew members gathered up the needed equipment band set out first to prepare the area. As people started moving with a purpose, it seemed to start everyone going.
Except for a few dozen who had decided to force Will to take them to the ship. They started marching toward the Rose in an effort to hijack her. Minnie had stayed aboard, just too many people looking at her. She blew the whistle to alert Will. A few feet down the dock some started slowing down, a few more feet and most were walking as if in a dream. A few made it fifty feet down the long quay before stumbling to a halt with confusion. They were edging toward the water, a vacant look in their eyes. Will and Naomi had watched from the land until the group stopped moving. They walked up and started leading them back.
None were coherent enough to ask why these two weren’t affected and Will preferred to keep it that way.
As the people had started dispersing the villagers were returning to their homes and businesses. Oddly enough no stragglers had stayed behind and there was no good explanation why. Perhaps it was fear of the unknown. The councillors had stayed at the lands end of the quay, but they looked shaken. “What are we going to do, all those people, all those hungry mouths.”, said Gemma, “We can’t feed them, our winter stock would be gone in a week.”. “Their captain Peter said they brought food, but it won’t be enough “, Evelyn added. Will was watching their discussion and knew there was a real problem here. There would never be enough for this many, even if there was a shipload of MRE’s. That was a stopgap solution and a very short one.
He just didn’t know what to do. Sure, they could easily sail away, wash their hands of the whole thing. That’s not who he was though. He wouldn’t abandon a friend. Then an idea hit him. “I’m going to go talk with Peter.